In 1997, at only 18 years-old, Gisele Bündchen received her ‘big break’ by being chosen to walk in Alexander McQueen’s infamous 'Golden Shower’ Spring Summer 1998 show.
Having auditioned for over 40 shows that season, it was McQueen’s show (and his subsequent dubbing of her as ‘the Body’) that is said to have acted as a catalyst for her meteoric rise to runway fame.
Unfortunately, this iconic moment for the fashion and modelling industries has a dark story behind it.
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Bündchen has revealed in her tell-all memoir Lessons: My Path To A Meaningful Life, that she wept as she walked that inaugural London show.
According to the Daily Mail, the now 38 year-old describes how with only ‘limited’ english she only realised she would be appearing topless in her third look once fitted with her black wig and heavy eyeliner before she walked. After successfully strutting the water-filled catwalk in the swimsuit and dress looks, she was handed a skirt and nothing else. She recalls in the book asking for her top, to which the reply was, ‘There is no top.’
Bündchen details, ‘I was a good girl. I was a tomboy. I was someone whose big breasts had embarrassed her since she'd hit puberty. I was a girl gripped by the fear that my family would feel so embarrassed they would never speak to me again. I was terrified.'
The young star, thousands of miles from home immediately ‘began to cry’, only for the make-up artist, named Val, to step in, and state she would paint a white top onto the model. 'Val told me how beautiful it looked and said that the runway was so dark nobody would know.'
'If Val hadn't shown up then, I seriously doubt I could have walked the runway,'
As the show reached it’s climax, with rain pouring from the ceiling, the South American star stepped out, 'No one could tell what was rain and what was tears.’
The Brazilian teenager is credited with ending the 'heroin chic' era of modelling, and creating the return of the supers, though it's clear this came at some personal cost for the star.
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
